Thursday, December 17, 1998

Christmas in the Eyes of a Child

In the eyes of children, Christmas will always hold a fascination, a kind of wonder, of mystery. For them it will always be an event to look forward to, to put up decorations, to cook and eat some special foods, to think of the many presents to be opened.

Even I, as an adult experience this kind of wonder and fascination especially when I look at the expectant faces of my nephews and nieces eagerly awaiting their turn to open their gifts. How their faces lit up in anticipation!

I guess this kind of childlike wonder lurks in the corner of every person’s heart. There’s a bit of a child in each one of us. The presence of that little child in the manger whose birthday we celebrate this Christmas speaks of that.

I hope all our preparations for Christmas will really lead us to the manger. It would be a waste of time and effort if after all the hustle and bustle we celebrated Christmas feeling empty and tired because we forgot the reason of our celebration. I came across once a beautiful cartoon that says it all. Entitled Family Circus, the cartoon shows Billy, the little boy, shopping with his family in the mall. Going around in one of the stores, he sees various Christmas displays with reminders written in bold and colorful letters. One reminder says, Don’t forget wrapping paper. Going further, he sees another reminder on top of a shelf filled with Christmas lights, Don’t forget Tree lights, Tinsel. Fascinated, he goes on looking around until he stops before a brightly-colored stocking filled with gifts on top of which is written: Don’t forget Visit Santa. Billy continues to look around. At the farthest corner of the store is yet another reminder: Don’t forget last minute gifts. Going home, Billy writes his own reminder. He draws the scene of the Nativity on a sheet of paper, signed it with his name and on top he writes in big, bold letters, DON’T FORGET.

I guess this is a good reminder for all of us this Christmas. Let us not forget that the center of our celebration in this season of Christmas is a little child named Jesus.

A blessed Christmas to one and all!

Wednesday, December 16, 1998

The Spirit of Christmas

December air has a way of making one feel nostalgic. Again I can feel the bug eating at me once again. Christmas carols fill the airwaves. Decorations are already out and firmly tacked in each corner of the house. Some have even started putting decorations as early as November.

With the economic recession that is hitting the country right now, the word Merry Christmas will surely apply only to a select few. Perhaps for the majority of our poor people the word Merry doesn’t apply. Whenever I send out Christmas greetings to friends I usually add a short message at the bottom of the printed greetings to add a personal touch to the card. This time, I was careful not to write Merry Christmas because for me the greeting sounds too trite. To some I did, though. The message just comes out naturally, because deep in me this is basically the message that I want to communicate. Isn’t there is a lot to be merry about when we celebrate Christmas? It’s the birthday of the King, after all. The Lord comes to our life bringing us peace, love and joy. And for me, these gifts are more than enough to make us feel merry and fulfilled even in the midst of economic recession.

Some of us have a shallow understanding that our celebration of Christmas is and can only be manifested by buying and hoarding of material things. It is a sad thing to think about. Christmas is slowly losing its true essence in the passing of years. It is becoming commercialized. Thanks to western influences amplified by the media. Certain people also used this time to promote their own interests at the expense of the less privileged ones. Take this true story, for example. A friend once told me of a person known for her acts of charity who gave certain amount of donation to a particular institution. As can be expected the lady brought with her a retinue of photographers to take pictures of her act of kindness. This friend told me how she felt bad for the nun accepting the donation in behalf of the institution. The lady, handing out the check to the nun, did not really release the check till the very end because she made sure that several pictures of her were taken at various angles. Certainly this lady knew what she was doing. The next day her photos were splashed on the major dailies extolling her philanthropic act.

Many of us though, have also realized that we are slowly doing away with our spiritual values in the celebration of Christmas through our prevalent practices. It is a good thing a group called Samahan para sa Alternatibong Pasko has been started by some committed Christians who are intent in bringing back spirituality in the celebration of Christmas. This group gives talks to various sectors to raise consciousness on how to celebrate alternative Christmas in homes, organizations and parishes.

The true essence of Christmas lies in our heart, in our understanding of what we celebrate about and whom it is we are celebrating with. May be the time has now come for us to bring some changes in our mode of celebration. Our festivities will lose its meaning if it only points towards material things and the fulfillment of our personal agenda. Let us put in the center of our celebration the birthday celebrant.

Wednesday, December 9, 1998

The Sound of Silence

Simon and Garfunkel were a popular duo back in the sixties. Among their many hits was the song The Sound of Silence. This song has a beautiful melody but communicates a sad message. It speaks of the kind of silence that negates and creates distance from others. It is a kind of silence that is more deafening to hear than the Babel of words media bombard us with.

I think silence (on the positive side) is becoming a precious commodity these days. I suddenly realized there is so much noise around us.

You see, we live right in the heart of the city. For almost twenty-four hours a day the sounds of cars and jeepneys passing by are unabated. It is not unusual to hear loud music from the karaokes of fast food centers in the vicinity even at early dawn, (the time when I am mostly at a dreaming state because of the chilly draft that enters my window.) Often times I am jolted from my sleep not only by this loud music but also by other noises, such as a shouting match between a drunken husband and his wife or a group of drunks talking on top of their lungs.

I guess noise is one of the consequences of modern living and the development of technology. Noise… words… engulf us and tend to overcome us. We become lost meeting the demands of our day to day activities. It’s becoming difficult to listen and reflect especially if the noise that we encounter not only comes from without but also within us.

The season of Advent is a fitting time to allow the value of silence to sink deep into our hearts. In a world that is lost in a sea of words and deafening noises it is good to let silence invade our whole being. But let this not be a silence that negate or alienate others but rather a fruitful silence that forms and sustains friendships – a silence that leads to understanding and communion. There cannot be more tragic than to live in a kind of silence that isolate us from the rest of the world. That’s precisely what the song The Sound of Silence means:

In a restless world I walked alone
On narrow street of cobbled stones…
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people may be more

People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
…within the sound of silence.

I am reminded of this song especially in this season of Advent. This period of waiting for the coming of Jesus is a period where silence plays an important part. But let it be a silence that sustains reflection and generates action. For it is in the silence of our hearts that we are able to hear the voice of the Lord communicating to us his love.

Wednesday, December 2, 1998

Not an Ordinary Cinderella

Once upon a time, in a far away land…

When I was a kid I remember us receiving cartons and cartons of hardbound books from the United States. It did not dawn on me to ask who sent the books or why those were sent to us. My preoccupation then was how to finish reading those beautiful books of short stories and fairy tales. Just like an ordinary kid on the block, fairy tales were very much part and parcel of my childhood fantasies. I was fascinated no end by stories of chivalry, of a beautiful princess being rescued by a charming and courageous prince. Wicked people who make things difficult for my prince charming and beautiful princess outraged me.

Fairy tales (at least the ones we used to know) has an oft-repeated theme of a beautiful and rich but frail princess being rescued by a charming and gallant prince. The woman is always portrayed as weak and dependent and the man as a dashing hero, strong and courageous. How about a change in perspective?

Andy Tennant (director and screenwriter of the movie Ever After), applies a total paradigm shift in his presentation of this film based on the life of Cinderella. It is completely a far cry from the Cinderella story you and I are used to. In this movie, Drew Barrymore gives life to the character of Danielle, a 16th century young woman. Danielle is not your typical Cinderella. She is athletic and protective of people. She is beautiful yes, but her beauty is not merely skin deep. She loves to read St. Thomas More’s Utopia and can easily quote from it. She is independent and stands up with conviction against her scheming stepmother.

The story gives logic on specific actions of characters. In fact, Danielle’s decision to stay in his father’s house even if she were reduced to being a servant to her extended family stems not out of weakness but from her desire to preserve the memory of her beloved father. She is a survivor, certainly not the “typical damsel in distress” waiting for the prince to rescue her. On the contrary, it was she who rescued the prince from a pack of bandits by carrying him on her back. (God, how I laughed on this scene.) On many occasions her keen intelligence and firm opinion on certain subjects have somewhat put the prince ill at ease and painfully aware of his lack of conviction.

This is certainly a kind of fairy tale that has a touch of realism in it. It is a Cinderella story for the new generation. Tennant says he wants to present a different version of Cinderella story because he does not want his “children to grow up believing that one has to marry a rich man with a big house in order to live happily ever after.” Hurray for him!

I find the story very appealing. It’s not the kind of mushy romance we often see in other films. I love the way the character of Danielle is presented in this story.

There are many beautiful shots in this movie that are worth mentioning. Natural lighting is used in most scenes. I find those scenes where there are lots of interplay between light and shadows very intriguing and romantic. The director of photography, by the way, is Andrew Dunn, B.S.C. Sharing credits with Drew Barrymore are Dougray Scott as Prince Henry and Anjelica Houston as the scheming stepmother.